The present invention relates to avatar animation, and more particularly, to facial feature tracking.
Virtual spaces filled with avatars are an attractive the way to allow for the experience of a shared environment. However, animation of a photo-realistic avatar generally requires robust tracking of an actor""s movements, particularly for tracking facial features.
Accordingly, there exists a significant need for improved facial feature tracking. The present invention satisfies this need.
The present invention is embodied in a method, and related system, for customizing a visual sensor using a neutral face image of an actor. The method includes capturing a front neutral face image of an actor and automatically finding facial feature locations on the front neutral face image using elastic bunch graph matching. Nodes are automatically positioned at the facial feature locations on the front neutral face image of the actor. The node positions are then manually corrected on front neutral face image of the actor.
Further, the method may include generating a corrector graph based on the corrected node positions.
Other features and advantages of the present invention should be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention.